Elliot Ganchrow writes:
Last night's wipeout of the Democratic Party was an unmistakable message from the American people that they are fed up with the Obama agenda. Whether Obama and the Democrats hear the message remains to be seen. President Clinton understood the message in 1994 and changed course in time to win re-election. Here are some of my observations from last night:
1. The numbers from the House are simply stunning- While 60 plus Democrats were losing their seats only two Republicans lost theirs. This was not a vote against the incumbents- this was a vote against the Democrats.
2. The Republicans struck the right tone by not overdoing their celebrations last night. Americans were not necessarily voting for the Repubicans but were rather repudiating Obama and Pelosi. Republicans now must prove their mettle by passing meaningful legislation in the House. This could force the Democrats in the Senate to play ball since the 2012 Senate map heavily favors the Republicans- Senate Democrats who don't want to meet the same fate as their defeated colleagues may decide that working with the Republicans is the better route.
3. It was disappointing to see Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer win re-election. The wins by the Democrats in Colorado, Nevada and Delaware shows that even in the best Republican year, you still must nominate good candidates to win. The screwballs who were nominated to challenge Reid and Coons should never have won their primaries.
4. The victorious Democrat in the West Virginia race, Governor Manchin, only won a two year term since it was an election to fill Robert Byrd's term. Since he promised to govern as a conservative, look for Republicans to hold his feet to the fire for the next two years.
5. Nancy Pelosi has done as much damage to this country as any politician has over the last 25 years. I can hardly wait to see her hand the gavel over to John Boehner.
6. The shift from a Pelosi/Hoyer leadership to a Boehner/Cantor leadership means that we will see a shift from a leadership that was ambivilent towards Netanyahu to a leadership that will stand strongly behind him and Israel. The Republicans in the House will be a strong counterforce against Obama, Clinton and the other anti-settler/pro palestinian Democrats. Soon to be Majority Leader Eric Cantor will be the highest ranking Jew in the House and is especially strong on Israel. The other important shift is that the Foreign Relations Committee will be taken over by Florida Republican Ileana Ros Lehtinen who is great on our issues.
7. Of the Republicans elected to the Senate, it is hard not to be impressed by Marco Rubio, the new Senator from Florida. He will be one of the faces of the party in the coming years. Incidentally he is headed to Israel on Sunday.
8. Republicans also did exceptionally well in the Governors races and state legislatures contests. Republicans now control the Governorships of at least 29 states including key states like Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
9. While the rest of the country was repudiating the Democrats, the two biggest states on the coasts remain stuck in a 1970's time warp. New York was busy electing a Cuomo while California was returning Jerry Brown to the state house. You could have opened a newspaper in the 70's and saw the same names in power (although it was Cuomo's father who was governor back then- they share the same far left ideology). Each of these states are completely dysfunctional and yet they elected two candidates with no fresh ideas. Don't expect much to improve in either state.
10. After endorsing Joe Miller and Christine O' Donnell, I hope Sarah Palin goes away for a while. She has the potential to distract from the Republican message which could be more effectively communicated by Republican leaders like Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour and Bobby Jindal. These are all potential 2012 national candidates and they need to get national air time.
11. I had a chance to watch some of MSNBC's coverage last night. Hard to believe that a network that once had Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, now features Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews. Their coverage was mean-spirited, condescending, amateurish and childish. They were in denial and blamed the losses on the stupidity of the American people (as if in two years the American went from smart to stupid). In comparison, Fox News had sharp analysis from well prepared and professional commentators. Its no wonder that Fox News has four times the amount of viewers that MSNBC has.
